Freshman Chris Stanley (Orange Country, Calif.) hit a two out single down the right field line to drive home the winning run as the Suffolk University Baseball team came back to top Ripon College, 8-7 in 10 innings on Wednesday afternoon.
Stanley, who was used as a pinch-runner in the bottom half of the ninth, hit a laser down the line on the tenth pitch he saw in the at-bat as freshman Remy Carpinito (Reading, Mass.) sprinted home from second to give the Rams the victory. Senior Marc Doyle (Whitman, Mass.) tied the game at 7-7 the at-bat before Stanley when he hit a double into the right field corner sending freshman Andrew McCarty (Franklin, Mass.) home from first base.
McCarty was 4-for-6 on the day scoring three times to lead the Rams offensively, while freshman John Vigliotti (Amesbury, Mass.) was also 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI for Suffolk.
Ripon managed to jump out to a 6-3 in the top of the seventh scoring three times. Nick Beamon hit a double deep into left plating a run and then an infield fly that fell in between the home plate circle and the pitcher’s mound scored two more runs. Ripon was able to take advantage of Suffolk miscues for most of the day, including in the tenth when Ripon scored their eighth run of the day on a passed ball.
The game was back and forth and drama filled. The Rams were down a run in both the bottom of the ninth and tenth. Suffolk managed to send the game into extra innings on a bases loaded walk drawn by sophomore Dan Belanger (Raynham, Mass.).
Freshman Jhonneris Mendez (Roslindale, Mass.) got the win in relief for Suffolk pitching an inning and two-thirds. The Rams got a solid start from junior Alex Torres (Framingham, Mass.) who went 6 1/3 innings, only allowing two earned runs while striking out six batters.
The Rams jumped out early, scoring in the bottom half of the first as McCarty tripled sending a groundball around the first base bag and into the right field corner. He would later come around to score as John Vigliotti punched a single into left. Suffolk tacked on two more runs in the second as senior Rory Gentile (Gloucester, Mass.) doubled deep into right center knocking in a run, and then came around to score on a single up the middle off of the bat of McCarty.
Ripon evened the game at 3-3 in the top half of the sixth when Whitty beat out a fielder’s choice knocking in a run. Ripon got on the board earlier that inning on an RBI-single by Kastner.
Vigliotti would add another RBI later in the game in the seventh, and junior Nick Travelyn (Bedford, N.H.) doubled in a run in the eighth.
Suffolk collected 16 hits on the day total as a team.
Bryant Bullock took the loss for Ripon pitching the tenth. Steven Blader started the game going 7 2/3 strong striking out three.
Beamon finished the game with three hits, while Nate Paul and Nick Whitty each had a pair.
The Rams will be back in action on Thursday afternoon as they take on Westfield State College in a double header beginning at 12:00pm.